Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-31
K IN G
Solomon Mines.

for we knew that when once the sun was
fully up it would be almost imp )s5i5ie for
US to travel in it. At length, about six
O'Clock, we spied little pile OF rocks rising
out Of the plain, and to this we dragged orr
selves. AS luck would have it, here we found
an oyerhanging slab of rock carpctcl be-
meath with smooth sand, which afforded q
most grateful shelter from the heat. Under
meath this we crept, and having drank s0!iie
water each and eaten bit of biltong, we
lay down and were soon sound asleep.
1t was three O'Clock in the afternoon be
fore we woke, to find our three bearers pre-
pairing to return. They had already had
enough of the desert, and no number OF
knives would have tempted them to come 9
step further. So we had q hearty drink, anC
having emptied our water bottles, filled
them up again from the gourdS they had
brought with them, and then watched then
depart on their twenty miles tramp home
AT half-paSt four we also started on. L
was lonely and deSOlate work, for with the
exception of few 0StricheS there was not o
single living creature to be seen on all the
vast eXpansc of sandy plain. 1t was evident
ly too dry for game, and with the exception
of deadly-lO0kiDg cobra or two we saw ne
reptiles One insect, however, was album
fly. There they came, mot as single spies.
but in battalions," as think the Old Tesla
ment says somewhere. He is an eXtraordi-
nary animal is the house-fy. Go where yon
will you find him, and so it must always
have been. L have seen him inclOsed in
amber, which must, was told, have been
half million years old, looking exactly like
his descendants Of to-day, and L have little
doubt but that when the last man lies dying
on the earth he will be buzzing round-it
that event should happen to occur in sum
mer-watching for an opportunity to settle
on his nose.
At sunset we halted, waiting for the moon
to rise. At ten she came up beautifully and
serene as ever, and with one halt about two
o'clock in the morning, we trudged YEARLY
on through the night, till at last the welcome
sun put period to our labOrs. We drank a
little and flung ourselves down, thoroughly
tired out, on the sand, and we were soon all
asleep. There was no need to set watch,
for we had nothing to fear from anybody or
anything in that vast untenanted plain. Our
only enemies We're heat, thirst, and flies, but
far rather would | have faced any danger
from nan OF beast than that awful trinity.
This time we were not SO lucky as 80 find a
shelt2ring rock to guard us from the glare OF
the sun, with the result that about seven
O'Clock we woke up experiencing the exact
sensations one WOrsd attribute to 4 beefsteak
on q gridiron. We were literally being
baked through and through. The burning
sun seemed to be sucking our very blood out
of us. We sat up and gasped.
'Phew," said |, grabbing at the halo Of
flies, which buzzed cheerfully round my
head. The heat did not affect them.
My wordr' said Sir Henry.
cit is hotr' said Good
1t was hot, indeed, and there was not Bit
of shelter to be had. Look where we would
there was no rock or tree, nothing but an
amending glare, rendered dazzling by the
hot air which danced over the hot surface Of
the desert as it does over a redhot stove.
''What is to be done%' asked Sir Henry;
tive can't stand this for long"
We looked at each other blankly
81 have IT," said Good, 1--WE must dig a
hole and get in 1t and cover ourselves with
karOO bushes"
1T did not seem q very promising SuggeS-
ton, but at least it was better than nothing
so we set to work, and with the trOWel We
had brought with us and our hands succeed
ed in about an hour in delving out patch Of
ground about ten feet long by twelve wide
to the depth of two feet. Then we cut a
quantity of low scrub with our hunting
knives, and creeping into the hole pulled |
over us all, with the exception of VentvogeI
on whom, being HOttentOt, the sun had nc
particular effect. This gave us some slight
shelter from the burning rays of the sun, bu'
the heat in that amateur grave can be better
imagined than described. The Black Hole
of Calcutta must have been fool to it; III
deed, to this moment do not know how we
lived through the day. There we lay pant
ing, and every now and then moiStening
our lips from our Scanty supply of water.
Had we followed our inclinations we should
have finished all we had off in the first two
hours but we had to exercise the most rigid
care, for if our water failed us we knew
that we must quickly perish miserably.
But everything has an end, if only you
live long enough to see it, and somehow that
miserable day wore on toward evening
About three o'clock in the afternoon we de
termined that we could stand it no longer.
1t would be better to die walking than to bt
slowly killed by heat and thirst in thai
dreadful hole SO taking each Of us little
drink from our discriminating supply o!
water, now heated to about the same tenn
perature as mans blood, we staggered on
We had now covered some fifty miles OF
desert If my reader will refer to the rough
copy and translation of old Da Snvestra's
map, he will see that the desert is marked
as being forty leagues across, and the ''par
bad water is set down as being about the
middle Of it. Now forty leagues is one hun
dred and twenty miles, consequently We
ought at the most to be within twelve or If
teen miles of the water if any should exist.
Through the afternoon we crept slowly
and painfully along, scarcely dong more
than a mile and a half an hour. At sunse
we again rested, waiting for the moon, ant
after drinking little managed to get some
sleep
Before we lay down Umb0pa pointed out
to us slight and indstinct hillOck on tn
fiat surface Of the desert about eight miles
away. At the distance 1t looked like an ant
hill, and as was dropping off to sleep Tel
to wondering what it could be.
With the moon we started on ag1m, lee
ing dreadfully exhausted, and suffering tor
lures from thirst AID pricllly heat Nobod
who has not felt it can know what we wen
through. We no longer walked, we stas
gered. now and then again falling from e.
haustion, and being obliged to call ha
every hour or SO. We had scarcely energ
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